Morning Star - Ousted Troll of the Month

An antisemitic article that blamed Israel’s crimes for the rise of anti-Jewish incidents in the UK has been removed from the Morning Star, after the newspaper received complaints from several Jewish organisations.

The Troll of the Month is an episode we choose every month to expose racist and anti-religious haters and to show the positive outcomes in the fight against intolerance in Europe.

An antisemitic article that blamed Israel’s crimes for the rise of anti-Jewish incidents in the UK has been removed from the Morning Star, after the newspaper received complaints from several Jewish organisations.

The now deleted article, written by John Elder and published on 18 June 2018, accused Jewish organisations, who do not speak up against Israel’s behaviour, of being indirectly responsible for antisemitic crimes.

"Rising anti-semitism cannot be tackled without addressing Israel’s crimes,” the headline stated. “Surely ‘mainstream’ Jewish organisations protesting about growing anti-semitism must see that, by failing to condemn Israeli brutality against Palestinians, they will be regarded by some as being indirectly complicit in that country’s actions”

The article was quickly taken down and on 21 June 2018 the paper issued an apology, which stated: “This article has been removed from the website as it crossed a line in attributing anti-semitism to the policies of the Israeli government and made demands on the “Jewish diaspora” and “Jewish community” as if these were responsible for Israeli policy or obliged to account for it.”

On 20 June 2018, the paper also posted a piece by Mary Davis and Phil Katz, long-time supporters of the paper, who explained in greater detail why Elder’s piece was problematic.

First of all, it wrongfully considered Jews across the world as collectively responsible for the action of a government, as if “the billionaire’s interest is no different from that of an Israeli dockworker”. “We argue forcefully as a paper, that British Muslims should not be stigmatised for the actions of Saudi rulers, or Isis,” Davis and Katz added, “But when it comes to Jews, other standards apply.”

Furthermore, the authors highlight that antisemitism predates Israel. Many antisemitic tropes that are widespread today have not substantially changed over the centuries and many conspiracy theories have nothing to do with Israel.

Morning Star is a left-wing British daily tabloid newspaper with a focus on social, political, and trade union issues. The paper was founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker by the Communist Party of Great Britain.